Why You Don’t Want To Live On the US-Canada Border

[@LtexprsGaming]

What's even crazier is that Point Roberts only has an elementary school. So for children grades 4 and up they would have to take a bus though British Columbia and into the mainland Washington State. But that also means during the pandemic this couldn't happen.

[@anasevi9456]

it's really stupid, the USA should make exceptions for entries that have no international connection at all, or give Canada stewardship over the land. USA technically owns it, but Canada gets the tax revenue and the relatively tiny amount of remaining residents get residency, benefits but not federal voting rights unless they apply for citizenship. Otherwise in a decade it will be a rotting ghost town.

[@person-gg6gx]

a car ferry between point Roberts and it's nearby us town would solve the issue entirely

[@lphaetaamma291]

@@anasevi9456 Germany has such a case with Switzerland. Büsingen is a legally german town, that is fully enclosed by Switzerland and has adopted many swiss laws. They even use the swiss currency, in contrast to the euro used in Germany. it goes even more crazy between "Baarle-Nassau, NL" and "Baarle-Hertog, BE", where the border is all over the place. The state to whom you have to pay taxes is even determined by the position of your front door, because so many houses stand on the border. the good thing is, that Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium are all part of the Schengen area, where only rarely border controls happen. And if they happen they only pick single random cars/busses/trucks out of the border traffic

[@davidbarts6144]

@@person-gg6gx Would require Federal subsidies, and so far Uncle Sam has not offered any. The temporary ferry during the pandemic border closure was paid for with emergency Federal money, which has gone away.

[@MarloSoBalJr]

@@anasevi9456 The problem is... your comment makes too much sense. We ALL know the US senate doesn't make logical sense

[@OhiChicken]

I used to live in a border town between New Brunswick and Maine and my favourite memories to share with people is how I would cross the border on my bike with my passport and I essentially had 25 hours to my day as once I crossed the border I was in a different time zone. I'd leave one job at 5pm, ride my bike for a half hour across an international border, and start at my 2nd job at 5pm. Which was 6pm on the other side of the border.

[@davidbarts6144]

USA should have agreed to this: “The British Foreign Office instructed Captain James Prevost, the British Boundary Commissioner, to inform his U.S. counterpart of the situation and request Point Roberts be left to Britain, because of the great inconvenience it would be to the United States. If the American Boundary Commission was reluctant, Prevost was instructed to offer ”some equivalent compensation by a slight alteration of the Line of Boundary on the Mainland“. It is not known how the U.S. commissioner responded, but Point Roberts remained part of the United States.” - Wikipedia.

[@rparl]

Shockingly I saw the bot bully peter, which I then reported. I don't usually see these bots here.

[@solandri69]

The problem was that Canada demanded all of Vancouver Island. If you look at the opening map, Vancouver Island is the mass of land to the left of Point Roberts (it does not touch mainland Canada as portrayed in the graphic). A portion of the island passes below the 49th parallel. So per the original agreement it should have been split between the U.S. and Canada (which incidentally would've avoided much of the wrangling between the two countries over salmon fishing rights in the 20th and 21st century). But Canada insisted on getting the entire island, which led to the U.S. insisting on keeping little bits of land like Point Roberts as compensation.

[@davidbarts6144]

@@solandri69 Except that if you read the entire quote I posted, the British side was willing to make adjustments elsewhere on the mainland (probably by moving a length of the border north a bit from the 49th parallel) to compensate for the land lost by ceding Point Roberts to the British.

[@RRW359]

The US/Canada should just agree to let us secede. Honestly the only thing that worries me about that would be the fault line (which ironically shares the same name as the secession movement), but I've heard the quake could set off the SA fault line so California would get most of the help even if we were part of the US.

[@davidjames4915]

@@davidbarts6144 Interestingly there is a somewhat analogous piece of Canada in British Columbia isolated by a waterway - the Pend Oreille River flows north from Washington, crosses the border then takes a sharp westward turn until it empties into the Columbia just north (a few hundred metres) of the border, just southeast of Trail. Why I say this is interesting is because that part of Canada has no permanent settlements nor are there any bridges to access it (other than the one at the Pend Oreille's mouth following the Columbia, which is the highway to the US border, but even this doesn't allow access to most of the territory due to another arm of the river that crosses into the US) and nothing but logging roads within it, though there are two hydroelectric dams. The area is quite a bit larger than Point Roberts (a good 50 km2) and I sometimes wonder if this was an area that Capt Prevost might have traded and that perhaps Canada and British Columbia have quietly set aside should a land swap ever come to pass.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

As a Pacific Northwest resident, while point roberts is in a odd position, it's important to point out that, culturally, the entire PNW is far more connected to BC Canada than it is with the rest of the US. The same applies to BC, it's more connected to Washington and Oregon than it is the rest of Canada. As it turns out, the PNW is extremely secluded and far away from the rest of NA.

[@MushroomMan64]

👍

[@aidanw9378]

This is true, I'm from Vancouver, and people are far more likely to do a weekend trip to Seattle than to another part of Canada (except perhaps Vancouver Island or the Okanagan Valley)

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

@@aidanw9378 Portland resident here, it's not considered traveling for us until we live the I-5 Portland/Seattle/Vancouver corridor.

[@RRW359]

*raised Doug flag*

[@doomkitty8386]

It makes sense. You have some steep mountains in the way, and because I am such a nerd I once did a count and found that there are more roads leading from Delaware County, Pennsylvania to the State of Delaware than there are roads leading from British Columbia to anywhere else. The whole PNW is just really isolated.

[@Chaz042TFC]

FYI, it's pronounced Soo St. Marie, hence why the boat locks are named the Soo Locks.

[@pepethepatriot7524]

He didn't do much research, obviously. Kids these days aren't learning much in the publik edumucashun systom 🤣

[@jamese896]

His pronunciation of Tsawwassen is also iffy, and Sumas is not "sum-mas". It's "soo-mas".

[@jonpatterson]

Came to say the same thing, love Half as Interesting (and Wendover) but yes, Soo, Soo Saint Marie

[@TheCougarlife]

Thank you! I came here to correct also.

[@curiousfirely]

I litetally LOL'd when he pronounced the city I have always called 'the soo'.

[@whatgamesweplay]

there was a story in recent years about families of people who aren't allowed to enter the US visit a library in one such town where the building's back door opens in Canada and families can briefly unite inside. And of course the story ended with the US working to stop these meetings.

[@GMornat]

You are probably refering to the Haskell Free Library between Stanstead, QC and Derby Line, VT

[@skyforce3580]

My grandparents live in Tsawassen and back when I was a kid my grandpa would launch his boat in Point Roberts as it was the closest public launch to their house (plus the bonus of cheaper gas). Back then when we crossed the border the guards cared more about the boat and the fish we caught than us.

[@realworldissues]

You forgot Northwest Angle above Minnesota in Canada territory.

[@Pink.andahalf]

There's no equivalent Canadian town. And there's less than 200 people living there.

[@casey6556]

As a former resident of Vancouver and semi-frequent visitor to Point Roberts, a few corrections: - The T in Tsawwassen isn’t silent (it’s “Tuh-wassen”) - Sault Ste. Marie, ON is pronounced “Soo Saint Marie” - Sumas, BC is pronounced “Soo-mass” - The passenger ferry to Point Roberts wasn’t for tourists. It was primarily for Point Roberts residents who needed to get out of Point Roberts for medical appointments, work, shopping, and other essential purposes. Tourists were actually asked to stay away to make sure there was capacity for locals. There was (and still is) also airline service between Bellingham and a grass airstrip in Point Roberts for those wanting a quicker trip and/or visiting and not wanting to use ferry capacity.

[@birchtree5884]

The T is silent for the Tsawwassen First Nation but most locals say the T

[@randalthor741]

Point Roberts is a favourite location for the American witness protection program to relocate witnesses to. The only way someone from the US looking for the witness can get there is either by crossing an international border twice, or by taking a boat there, either of which increases their chances of being noticed and stopped (especially if they have a criminal record) and leaves more of a trail of evidence behind than if they were able to just drive there unimpeded.

[@jdmrc93]

As a Michigander, I almost had a heart attack when I heard you pronounce SSM incorrectly lol

[@dengxiaoping325]

Ah yes, Washingtonians too collapse at his presumptions, Soo-Mass not Sum-ass 😮‍💨

[@Loj84]

@@dengxiaoping325 I had a brief moment of "wait have I been pronouncing it wrong this whole time?" when he said that lmao.

[@sblack53]

We Ontarians also had to do a double take

[@soundscape26]

Well, the bloody word reads like "salt".

[@Scriptorsilentum]

michigander? how bout some euro-style: michiganese...? 😂😂

[@archivist68]

Your video brought back some really great memories. I was raised on the US/Canada border of Youngstown, New York, and Niagara-on-the-lake, Ontario, with only the slim line of the Lower Niagara River in between the two. For young boaters with their own dingys or row boats the border was no problem. We left the NY side and 15 minutes later tied up on the Canadian one. Customs was almost non-existent. After 9/11, when I came back to visit my hometown, I could not enter Canada without a passport. I completely sympathize with the much greater problems faced by my west coast cousins! Still, what "border" memories I have of those simpler times!

[@elviscobb5922]

My family and I have a boat and every summer we cruise up and down on the Niagara River in Youngstown. We don’t attempt to dock our boat on the Canadian Side but it’s very common for boats to move up and down the river very near the shores on both sides. You rarely see Border Patrol but understand that if you attempted to go a shore on the Canadian side that they would show up promptly and that you would be subject to a long list of questions. In the past it wasn’t uncommon to cross the bridge to Canada for dinner,shopping or just for an evening stroll. You simply answered a few questions at the bridge and off you went.

[@teg24601]

Something interesting to add... until 1985, Pt. Roberts was serviced by BC Tel; until 2019 they were served by Delta Cable (a Canadian Company). The US and Canada made a huge mistake by tightening the borders between their countries, and instead should have worked together to secure access to the continent. It would have been a lot cheaper in the long run, and would have actually been a meaningful change, instead of the placebo that the current restrictions represent.

[@WitchMedusa]

Very much agreed

[@mg2779]

"...and instead should have worked together to secure access to the continent." The Bush administration formally proposed that in 2002, but the Chrétien administration effectively said hell no. The idea has not been revisited since.

[@teg24601]

@@mg2779 Yet another reason to not have like Jean Cretien

[@dmitripogosian5084]

@@teg24601 Jean Cretien had the courage not to take us to Iraq. For that I would forgive him everything else

[@bryanhuang542]

I don't understand why Point Roberts can't use a ferry, it seems like it would solve all its problems

[@adamvialpando106]

A ferry would not nearly cover the amount of traffic as a land border does. It is pretty impractical overall and would only be able to cover certain times.

[@remen8021]

no one's ever gotten around to building it

[@traceymeek1238]

Because a car ferry would cost over $100 million to set up, take longer than driving overland, and have to be paid for entirely by the state since it wouldn’t cross an international border.

[@jarjarbinks6018]

My understanding is that it just wouldn’t be very competitive. Ferries are slow and usually work in Washington when connecting to areas that literally have no other form of transportation or the land connection is unbelievably inconvenient Point Roberts though even with the annoying border crossings still has a good enough land connection that a ferry just wouldn’t make sense compared to just crossing the border

[@TheBooban]

@@jarjarbinks6018 Hk used ferries all the time and is way more populated. I know an island where car ferries arrive every 6 mins. Supplemented by people ferries. Its just a mental block not to use them.

[@kwanlinus6999]

Every Anglophone country when drawing a border Straight Line? Straight Line.

[@MarloSoBalJr]

Oversimplified 👍

[@jordansean18]

I'm still convinced that Vancouver BC is named after Vancouver WA... because they missed us when the border got drawn 😅

[@davidbarts6144]

Both are named after George Vancouver. Vancouver, WA is actually older one (and was founded by the British, the Oregon Country was shared between the Britain and the USA until they extended the border to the West Coast).

[@AppleCheese12345678]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bGrWZ4Cois6qgsU Here's a video from the old mayor of Vancouver (BC)

[@jameshansenbc]

There's a good Kumtuks video on this called Two Vancouvers on the West Coast

[@stvdagger8074]

Tell me, is Hudson's Bay named after the Hudson River? Are they connected?

[@AppleCheese12345678]

@@stvdagger8074 both are named after the same guy Henry Hudson. So I guess similar to the west coast having so many Vancouvers.

[@TheBenenene10]

Imagine not being in the Schengen Area and caring about borders

[@android199ios25]

Best thing that happened to Europe, (together with EU).

[@soundscape26]

@@android199ios25 Yes, very convenient.

[@StYxXx]

Even before Schengen European countries weren't as obsessed with their borders as the US is. The only instance where borders looked like the US/CAN or US/Mex one was the Iron Curtain. But the last time I checked the US and Canada weren't pointing nukes at each other. xD

[@dmitripogosian5084]

@@StYxXx For us with Soviet passports, Germany border (already after unification) looked pretty much as our Soviet border :) . French, though, did not

[@Simple_City]

Sumas is pronounced Sue-Mass. Always love these videos about Point Roberts and other towns that are similar to it!

[@StoniOso]

summice

[@colinpovey2904]

One of my best friends lives in Blaine, Washington (you mention it in the story). The view out of his front windows is of Canada. You missed the fact that while Point Roberts does have a Washington state elementary school, it does NOT have a middle or high school. So, the students from Point Roberts have to cross the US Canada border 4 times a DAY (Morning: US to Canada, then Canada to US, then reverse in the afternoon) Not only does this take well over an hour and a half each way, PLUS driving time, it essentially prevents Point Roberts students from participating in ANY after-school activities-one bus trip each way per day, period. And they can't get detention, as it would take their parents hours to go get them home. So they have to get up tremendously early, and get home late every day. There is also essentially no medical care in Point Roberts. Pre-pandemic, one RN lived there and helped US citizens. But when they needed a doctor, dentist, etc., they had to make the trip (over an hour) to the rest of Washington state to visit a doctor or hospital. In the summer, Point Roberts was primarily populated by wealthy and elderly Canadians, as the lower US taxes made it easier for them to purchase a summer home there. I think the US and Canada need to work out a way to make Point Roberts part of Canada. You would have to compensate the citizens for their holding and inconvenience of either becoming Canadians or of moving back to the mainland. The other locations are not as bad, as they are not physically separated from the rest of their country.

[@marshalltucker9690]

Episode idea, why British Columbia high school plays NFL rules and not CFL rules football.

[@solracer66]

Simon Fraiser University played NFL rules until 2001 and then switched to CFL rules before switching back to NFL rules in 2010. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Fraser_University_football

[@epicawsomeful]

Listening to your pronunciation of "Sault St. Marie" was brutal. Hoping it makes it into your next correction video

[@aledwards6787]

I drove down to point Robert's. What an odd but beautiful place

[@TheHylianBatman]

Huh, an HAI video that's more informative than funny. I thought I'd never see the day. A good video! Lots of things to think about. Borders can be very fascinating.

[@ParanoidMarvinMk2]

You can also tell you have only read some of those names. "Sault" in Sault Ste Marie is pronounced "Soo". It is of French origin, and as with many French words the final consonant(s) are silent.

[@EddieOtool]

Wow. That was a good, and I mean a very good 6:40 long ad.

[@JeremyWS]

So what I heard is that Point Roberts should be part of Canada, I would be fine with that.

[@mariolongtin8271]

I live on the Canada / US border - however it's heavily guarded and enforced over here. Also it's been at least 15 years + that we needed identifaction to cross.

[@christopherdunn317]

I thought it was longer than that maybe 25 years, it doesn't seem to be guarded that much ? but i guess you would know since you live up there. I saw on the news once some guy walked his dog on the road, since there's no fence to the right, and some patrol told him never do that again, typical assholes !

[@adreabrooks11]

I grew up in Fort Erie, Ontario - being able to see the Marine Midland Building (in Buffalo, New York) from my doorstep. Back in the old days, as a teenager, I once cut class to walk across the Peace Bridge and catch a Pearl Jam concert. It was a different age! I must admit: during the COVID lockdown, I wondered how the town with the Haskell Library was dealing with things. Thanks for the info!

[@alexiscausleywaabagiizhigo8606]

As a resident of Sault Ste Marie, it's pronounced 'Soo' Ste Marie. 2nd oldest settlement in the United States. They put the border between one city after the war of 1812. It's been here since the 1600s.

[@giraffeman326]

As someone who lives in Canada bordering Point Roberts I cried inside by the way he pronounced "Tsawassen."

[@cliffordcunningham4155]

But he probably spelled it correctly - 2 ww's,

[@giraffeman326]

@@cliffordcunningham4155 I still make that mistake it to this day.

[@cfraimondo233]

As someone living on a border city, I love it. Metro Buffalo includes Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls, ON. While yes its more difficult to cross over the Niagara River, there are so many benefits of being on the border. I wouldn't trade it away for anything.

[@JaydeZombie]

One of my clients live on Point Roberts and I live in bellingham, so I have to make trips out that way all the time. So chill out there.

[@EJ-uq4er]

Don’t forget about the NW Angle, the northern most point in the contiguous US, where kids have to cross the border twice just to get to school.

[@applicablerobot]

The border near Vancouver is a bit off, the San juan islands are American territory. He must be salty that the brits left san juan island

[@Dwightstjohn-fo8ki]

The actually decision on the islands boundaries was made in arbitration agreed to by both parties: I believe they entrusted The Kaiser at the time to make the arb. decision.

[@applicablerobot]

@Dwight st. john I'm pretty sure you're right, the Germans arbitrated the dispute. Didn't realize it was the Kaiser though, that's even more amusing.

[@TheGuerreroEFG]

my grandma lives in point Roberts, and recently her car broke down and there is no car repair place in point Roberts. For some reason the only legal way to bring it across the border was to drive it or bring it on a flatbed truck. There were no flatbed trucks in point Roberts, and she couldn't get one in from Canada, so she couldn't fix it.

[@gotolangley]

Point Robers has kept all the nature intact. Lots of lots of trees. In Delta, no trees.. lots of lots of houses..

[@AustinKDG]

I live in Sault Sainte Marie, MI, USA, and while COVID-19 slowed down the flow of Canadians and Americans across our bridge, it didn't stop it completely. With the testing requirements pretty much gone for people entering Canada, the International Bridge has seen record crossings this year. We thankfully do NOT need a passport to go from country to country thanks to Michigan's Enhanced Licenses, so as a person who FREQUENTS Sault Sainte Marie, ON, i can tell you its pretty simple. $4 each way on the American side, and a short wait at Customs. Yes 9/11 did make the cities a little more separated, but most people who live here have a Enhanced license or a passport, so crossing the border has really not been a whole lot different. And while a bunch of people have also pointed it out, Its "Soo Saint Marie". We still have a combined daytime population of well over 150,000 people, doubling if not tripling the American population thanks to Canadians and people traveling to the city for work. So I have to disagree, it still works quite well here, a few hoops to jump through.

[@ryanpoirier2215]

I mean nobody was "stranded" in Point Roberts for that... boat travel plus the fact that you can literally just step over someones backyard fence and cross into the neighbouring country...

[@AdamDavid]

Sault is pronounced as "Soo" / "Su" not even close to Salt. Lol. The l and T are both silent letters that modify the diphthong "au". Sault \ ˈsü \ : a fall or rapid in a river.

[@markstevens1729]

Let’s be clear: this “problem” is all the making of the US. I had my Canadian sail boat at a Point Roberts marina before and after 9/11. Sailing sucked after that date. Gave up crossing the border long before COVID as the dignity factor had plummeted to sub-zero levels.

[@lordgarion514]

Fact is we've caught more terrorists from the Canadian border than the Mexican border......

[@lordgarion514]

@@markstevens1729 Ooh, a Canadian that acts like an American trumptard supporter. Don't see many of those. Don't even get me started on the number of suspected terrorists that have been stopped at the Canadian border. So no telling how many of those have slipped through.

[@Graybeard_]

The houses on the hill across from me are in CA. I'm in the US. I've never experienced a problem. I have a US Border Patrol camera on my property. Border patrol regularly drives through my property. I view it as having a federal law enforcement agency watching my property. Predictably, we have zero crime, no thefts, no vandalism at all.

[@Hendricus56]

Wait until you tell the US government about Schengen and what options it provides

[@coastaku1954]

Didn't you watch the video? The US did have that until 9/11, hell for the longest time you could get what's called the "Enhanced Drivers License" in Ontario which allowed you to cross the US-Canada border without a passport, but they have since retired that

[@Hendricus56]

@@coastaku1954 I did. And shocker: There were terrorist attacks in Europe as well. And the borders still weren't shut because of it. Only Covid ended up closing the borders

[@coastaku1954]

@@Hendricus56 A truly open border could never work in North America

[@Steven_Edwards]

@@coastaku1954 we used to have one...

[@coastaku1954]

@@Steven_Edwards No we didn't, there was always a checkpoint

[@ariaokamailuk1280]

Another Fun Fact about Point Roberts is that since they don't have a high school, all of the students must cross the border to get to Blaine High School where my mother teaches.

[@ariaokamailuk1280]

When the border closed during 9/11 all of the students were stuck in Blaine for several days

[@RachelKeslensky]

As someone who is now a part-time resident of Point Roberts, you've earned a hell of a "Well, ACTUALLY..." for this video. While COVID did do a number on Point Roberts, you've glossed over significant improvements that have happened in the past several months, including the Remote Border Community exemption as of early 2021 that provides for cross-border travel again... for residents, at least, which admittedly only solved half the problem. Removing testing requirements in April has made additional improvements, mostly for Canadians visiting the Point. The last major hiccup -- vaccination requirements for non-resident Americans to enter Canada -- is proving to be part bug and part feature, as Canada doesn't exactly see this as a problem. 🤷 Unlike the other border towns you mentioned in your video, Point Roberts has unique properties (and as a result been granted additional exceptions by the governments of both countries!) as a remote border community, more akin to the Northwest Angle or Hyder, Alaska. While failing to mention the Point at all would be a grave oversight in a video about the US/Canada border, there's enough unique about its status as a remote border community that using it as the focus of your video about everyone else's border issues makes most of your discussion about the Point itself a gross oversimplification, almost to the point of misinformation.

[@the-human-being]

Good to know I guess.

[@rhianonallen2947]

Except the testing is still administered...just on a random basis. You need to budget time for a possible test each time you cross the border back into Canada. I've been flagged twice for a test....colossal pain since it took almost 24 hours to get the appointment completed the first time before I could be released from quarantine.

[@phileasfogg89]

"a border free North America". Mexico is literally North America.

[@hobonomad1928]

The Lubec, Maine and Campobello Island, New Brunswick border were left out of this for some reason.

[@leiad3983]

Look into haines and skagway alaska too, the border issues leave the ferry service as the only way out sometimes. The tourism economy is severely injured right now due to an active rockslide endangering docks in skagway, which is attempting to recover after the pandemic

[@jaspreet-ips]

India-patistan border is so much easy to cross then this complex us-canada border

[@protonneutron9046]

My S.O. once owned a South facing, water front home there. Miserable because of the 12 month cold, cloudy weather

[@GC2Major_Tom]

I live in Washington, and last time I visited Vancouver BC, I barely noticed a difference between it and like...Bellevue.

[@viraeternus]

I just went there last night. Only had to fill out one app form with my vaccination record, and took half an hour at the very most. No PCR testing on re-entry into Canada… plus most point Roberts residents are also Canadian as well as US citizens

[@rhianonallen2947]

You do risk getting ordered to take a PCR test upon return, but it's random. Lucky you. Been given twice to me.

[@dexta32084]

Campobello Island in New Brunswick is another example. Only mainland connection is a bridge to Lubec, Maine.

[@romulusnr]

Not only did they require identification, but in the late 00s they changed it from accepting drivers licenses or state IDs, to requiring *passports.* Which not really that many Americans even had.

[@Dwightstjohn-fo8ki]

and still don't. I have a secret pocket for my Passport . Passports are privacy protected so aren't good for I.D. I never have my birth cert., dr. license, and Passport in the same place.

[@kenzohofmeister5682]

Why does the start of this video sound like it was made by wendover productions

[@dan003]

There border towns, where there is often literally only a little wooden fence separating the two countries, appear to be absolutely great places to 'disappear' into the US/Canada should one want to do so.

[@totoroutes5389]

LOL thanks. this info will be useful the next time I want to move to the border.

[@benjyp1223]

Also worth mentioning International Falls, MN and Fort Francis, ON as boarder towns... as well as the Northwest Angle (MN) community which was crushed by covid.

[@Dwightstjohn-fo8ki]

a cousin owns a good chunk of Fort Frances. It's a "board"er town in more ways than one. Our home in LA has pine panelling (real pine panels) that have the Ft. Frances mill stamp. DAD could have hauled that pine in the late forties or early fifties before we left Canada!

[@Random3716]

Hi Sam and the editor, I have a pedantic correction for the end of the year: the first word in Sault Ste. Marie is pronounced "Soo".

[@josh0g]

It's not really the unified communities that you imply here, and it wasn't in pre-9/11 either. There's a lot of interaction, but people very much maintained their national identity and culture. I know because I grew up about 10 mins from the border (right in between Sumas and Blaine. Lynden, WA and Aldergrove, BC border crossing). Our local economy is bolstered by Canadian shoppers, but it's not at all a shared identity or culture. I'm unusual for having gone to college across the border, and therefore actually having a lot of relationships with Canadians. When you get a closer view of the situation, and interact more with people from the other side of the border then you get much more familiar with the differences. Most people operate on cultural assumptions of the other group to formulate their opinions, and it was that way before 9/11 too (I was 15 at the time, but that's old enough to have gotten some idea). Pt Roberts is an oddity, but it also fluctuates in size seasonally. There are a lot of vacation homes there for richer segments of the Seattle population who want a place quieter and outside of the city. My point is that, while we are a little more informed on the folks across the border due to work visas or intermarrying, there is still a mostly separate identity and culture. It can be in very intangible ways. You walk around in Vancouver and things feel different from Seattle in ways you can't quite describe. The same goes for walking around smaller towns of similar size like Bellingham and Abbotsford. By nature of the US's larger population and dominant pop culture and political power, the Canadian side tends to be more informed on Americans, but that also comes with some misguided opinions. There are distinct formulative histories that shape our culture going as far back as how we came to be nations. Those things shape our mindsets far more than people realize.

[@nilakshandissanayake1379]

It's important to have borders. After all it's two different countries. It was funny as soon as I crossed the border the GPS changed from KM to Miles. I am not used to Miles / Hour. It put me off for a while

It was offered for sale to Canada who politely declined

[@watashiandroid8314]

Point Roberts has an airport (on the US side). People should just learn to fly. It also has docks, and boats are even easier to learn than planes (but about the same price, and slower, but carry more).

[@jeffreymurillo3131]

I agree with that you're saying. But, I can't help but feel like this whole video is just an ad for that other video.

[@theresad7072]

It all sounds like a lot of unnecessary hassle caused by a line on a map.

[@cmw184]

Yea i live in bellingham, and my grandparents live in Chilliwack. (Canada) Couldnt visit em for over a year, was super irritating.

[@p.s.anders]

9/11 broke trade and life in the Niagara Region Canada. Many people moved away from the border. It was unbearable to look across the Niagara River, and know that the door was shut. 9/11 impacted Canada as well. Especially the border.

[@klausjackklaus]

They have made it better with Enhanced Driver's Licenses for NY, MI, VT, MN, and WA on the US side and ON, QC, MB, and BC on the CA side, but still annoying after they started requiring identification at checkpoints. I heard they were going to try EDLs in California for Baja California, but I doubt that will ever get through as people could just pop over the border to pay $3.78 a gallon for gas instead of $4.45 a gallon. They also have the CBX now in Tijuana/San Diego and the Friendship Bridge in Niagara Falls, but I wish it was still freely open

[@bigboi8770]

2:24 That's another one for the next "what we did wrong" video. The "Sault" in "Sault Ste Marie" is pronounced "Soo" (because it's French) Edit: I didn't realize how many mispronounciations there would be in one chunk lol okay so "Sault" is "soo", the "Cou-" in Coutts is "cow", and Sumas is pronounced "soo-mass",

[@johnbee7729]

Hyder Alaska and Stewart BC are the same - tho the US does not even have a border checkpoint (at least up to 2017).

[@wyattsmith7665]

Aye the sault is close to where I live in (Sudbury Ontario) and it’s pronounced as “sue”

[@randoejoe4306]

I know people are getting mad at Sam for misprouncing town names but the fact he got Tsawwassen right is just incredible.

[@Isajahify]

I can’t find anything that defines the pronunciation of the Tsawwassen Peninsula, but the community on the BC side is definitely pronounced tuh-WAS-en.

[@randoejoe4306]

@@Isajahify The town is supposed to be pronounced tsa-wah-sen or suh-wah-ssen, but the residents usually have a hydrid of the t and s sounds together. And for the definition thing i'm guessing its named after the Tsawwassen First Nation

[@RosannaPerrigo]

In 2000 I had no problem going through the 2 borders on my families trip to Point Roberts. Coming back into Washington, the US border at Washington, was he --. The agents had major ego trips. They went so far as to ask our 5 year old questions- I refused to let my son be treated like that. So, they decided to search my vehicle and trailer for over 1 hour. When I asked the reason for all the questions and searching- the answer was "you claim you stayed only 1 night in Point Roberts."

[@pakeshde7518]

Dont forget a few of those border towns only exist because of the wars and moving arms to one place or another while certain treaties were being worked on. If i remember at least 2 of those have a airport in each city which only makes sense if you can fly your planes just to the border then some nice folks from the other side come and tow/truck/rail them across then fly them out from their airport.

[@PixleSwords]

the sault in sault st marie is pronounced like 'sue' and not 'salt'

[@stalinstalin9187]

i live in newwest which is very close to point roberts across the border in canada

[@rickwightman2366]

"Soo Ste. Marie", or the Soo. Also take a look at Campobello Island (home of the Roosevelt summer residence) in New Brunswick - the reverse of this situation.

[@Questionable_creations]

I've lived 2 miles from the border in 2015

[@mikeogden5256]

I lived in port Angeles

[@canyonoverland5003]

The second red dot overlapping Point Roberts at 0:46 - are you referring to the northern tip of Ross Lake? with only road access from Hope, British Columbia?

[@Vitkovsky]

“Solt saint Marie”

[@d133710n]

Canadas insane immigration policy will forever keep free access a distant memory.

[@docgaming6152]

The way Sam pronounced Sault Ste. Marie pissed me off

[@sherizaahd]

Mmm, catsup flavored potato chips sound good.

[@grantboucher2696]

the residents should be approved for the " residents card " and travel across as they please

[@bacn_]

This video has a suspiciously small amount of sarcasm

[@ricebuckets]

Did anyone else watch Adventures in Golf today?

[@WWPWhiteWolf]

Pronounced in French “Soo Saint Marie” not Salt. Loved the video, just felt the need as a local to correct it!

[@A190xx]

The problem was caused by either the USA policy of acquiring as much land as possible and never ceding an inch; or pure pettiness. Commonsense says to had this peninsula over to Canada, even if it means swapping it with another piece somewhere else.

[@skarredspartan]

I’m drunk and your ketchup chip joke tweaked me out, legitimately just spent 10 minutes researching it because I couldn’t accept it as fact. Not cool, Samuel.

[@coryb8796]

The map outline at 4:56 is crazy off. To see the badass story of why, checkout OverSimplified’s Pig War video

[@jimmydean2797]

Surprised that there is no ferry service from Birch Bay.

[@cme98]

There was never a need. There is now but there is no way in Hell our dear Lord Governor, Ruler of everything Washingtonian-except DC, Jay Inslee, is going to put a ferry from anywhere to the 900 residents who remain there year round.

[@MinistryOfMagic_DoM]

As a resident of Point Roberts I would like to remind you that we don't HAVE to drive to get to mainland USA. We can take boats across the bay and do quite frequently. Many of us keep a car on both sides for this exact purpose.

[@averagejoey2000]

because lots of people have two cars and a boat money

[@blue_jay31]

Ok , that makes sense ! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@orderstudios4088]

@@averagejoey2000 just because you are broke doesn’t mean everyone is

[@averagejoey2000]

@@orderstudios4088 I only have a boat and one car. only have enough money to live on the boat

[@oneminuteofmyday]

@@averagejoey2000 Each person/family budgets for what they need based on where they live. What sounds weird or extravagant for some people may be basic necessities for others.

[@EebstertheGreat]

BTW, add "Sault Ste. Marie" to your mispronounced bucket. It's silly, but most people (including almost all locals) pronounce the town like "Soo Saint Marie," as read in English. So "Sault" sounds like "Sue" and "Sioux." And "Ste," which is the French abbreviation for "sainte," is pronounced like the English word "saint." But "Marie" is pronounced as you would expect, not like the English name "Mary." Just to keep you on your toes. EDIT: Also, "Sumas, WA" is pronounced like "SOO-mas," not like "SUM-as." You can go there to get some as, but you don't pronounce the city that way. EDIT2: I think "Derby Line" is also pronounced like "Darby Line."

[@michaelgodwin6158]

Also "Sumas" is pronounced "Soo-mass".

[@EebstertheGreat]

@@michaelgodwin6158 You must have gotten here before my edit. You beat me to it.

[@davidbarts6144]

And Sumas is pronounced “soo-mass.”

[@RustyorBroken]

The French language will get you every time.

[@Ninten007]

Was looking for this one ☝🏻

[@tomasbeblar5639]

Point Roberts has more shipment receivers than you can shake a stick at. Canadians (myself included) regularly ship packages there and pick them up in person, as it's far cheaper than shipping them cross border. Even though the packages cross the border twice to get there, they are not "imported" technically.

[@breadymcsaus7755]

That's actually really smart lol

[@Marcopolo-pm8ty]

point Roberts is also the place to go for migrants renewing their visa / permit because it saves you the trouble of doing it at an airport or at the real border The road is pretty much designed so you can just go around the border post and go back immediately to Canada.

[@sigor2011]

True... but I find package fees in Blaine are cheaper. Of course if you live close to PR it does not matter. Also cheap USA gas ⛽️. I bet 90% of gas there is sold to Canadians.

[@kibaakamaru1997]

I live close to Stanstead/Derby Line and people do the same thing here

[@Rapidashisaunicorn]

Yup. My uncle was just telling me about how easily you could set up a mailing address there and that you could basically pick up your packages anytime 24/7 from secure dropboxes

[@davidbarts6144]

I live in the border region (currently on the Canadian side but used to live on the US side). It's not as good as the pre-9/11 days but it is not nearly so bad as it was during the height of the pandemic. No COVID tests required if you are fully vaccinated. It was annoying in the extreme not to be able to visit friends that were only a short drive away. Sometimes I forget that for most people, international travel is a big deal and not just a casual day trip.

[@Noschool100]

It still sucks like the pre 9-11 good days are kind of over, now we get nsa,tsa, patriot act and a strengthened border with 'known terrorist hub' Canada

[@IanDresarie]

As a central Euopean, I don't get borders at all :D

[@lindashongwe3944]

Board line they are useless

[@orangeradishneo]

Being only 28, I rarely remember a life without secure borders. I grew up in Fort Erie, and moved back as an adult. The town is nothing what it used to be compared to pre 9/11.

[@wigglyk2796]

why doesn't the US cede these areas to Canada? I doesn't make any sense to hold unreachable no man's lands. As for the people living there, you folks are true masochists. I cant imagine getting out my passport for a grocery trip. Lol.

[@juliegolick]

When I was a kid, pre-9/11, you didn't need a passport to travel by car between Canada and the US. And not just at border towns, but... anywhere. It's really hard to explain to people who didn't grow up with it how EXTREMELY open the Canada / US border used to be.

[@MsLazyllama101]

Yes! When I was a kid, we went on a road trip to Niagara Falls. My parents had passports but my brother and I didn't but there was no issue entering Canada.

[@modedesigner7534]

They didn’t make you use a passport until 2008 actually when crossing by land

[@willbarnstead3194]

As a further step of making the boarder more difficult I’ve faced US customs while leaving the US back into Canada. I thought about asking if I was leaving east Germany, but I thought better of it.

[@Dwightstjohn-fo8ki]

One week I crossed the truck border 9 times, once with an eightfoot by four foot crate in the back I was going to use for livestock feed storage. "Anything to declare"? NO. Proceed. I could have had an ENTIRE North Korean soccer team in that crate. Today? Not so much.

[@edipires15]

By “extremely open” you mean like “Schengen open” where there was no border checks when crossing the border or just you didn’t need a passport to cross the border?

[@jfrancobelge]

Seen from Europe... I live in Eastern Belgium, a 20-minute drive away to the borders with both Luxembourg and Germany, and the French border is an-hour drive away. As we have no more border or customs checks within the EU a/o Schengen Zone (and same currency), for me crossing into any of these countries, for leisure or for shopping, is so "normal life" that I sometimes don't really pay attention to which country I'm in. Having to go thru border checks each time I change country would be both annoying and weird.

[@RiegerNicholas]

The main difference is that most Americans don't live within 15 hours of a border so it really isn't an issue to most people

[@lastboyscout6437]

Seen from Europe (Denmark) the covid vaccinations are paid by our free helthcare. It might be tax based, but we do get a lot back. Basic social security, health insurance, education, libraries, etc.

[@lordgarion514]

Yeah, but the entire EU (including the UK) is literally less than half the size of America. And there's just over half as many countries as we have states. And while we don't have many different languages to deal with, the culture across this entire country is quite varied.

[@lordgarion514]

@@lastboyscout6437 It's tax based, and it's a LOT cheaper than what we pay, mostly thanks to the republicans. Before Covid, the EU paid $2,500 per capita for health insurance. America paid $10,000 per capita. And for that extra $7,500, we have more stillbirths, more SIDS, and both men and women have a shorter average lifespan than the EU.

[@XDRosenheim]

@@lastboyscout6437 Quick note on that, and it might just be a translation issue... We do not get free health "insurance" in Denmark. You still have to pay for that yourself. We do have free health "care/services".

[@jordansean18]

2:25 okay who challenged Sam to mispronounce as many city names as possible in one video

[@keyser1884]

First mispronunciation was mere seconds into the video! Impressively managed to not use the local OR the traditional First Nation pronunciation of Tsawwassen

[@aidanw9378]

A solid 3 place names butchered lol

[@mistyfungus8505]

Actually he said Tsawwassen properly 🤷‍♂️ edit: I stand corrected, Tsawwassen is apparently really tricky

[@Barnaclebeard]

I'm a big fan of "bolth".

[@ekswfrenwn7]

Abbotsford is also mispronounced lol

[@Landopedia]

Sault is pronounced “soo” because anglophones find French to be an enigma.

[@jordansean18]

Given the string of mispronounced city names right then, I'm guessing he did this on purpose lol

[@Vivi-mf3fh]

Well fine then, I'll pronounce it just like salt to make it even

[@DCecil21]

I'm a Michigan native and I came here specifically to say that if it wasn't already said! 🤣😂

[@coastaku1954]

But it is pronounced Soo, both English and French

[@insomniagobrrr5542]

Oui.

[@gpeters8598]

CGP Grey called the treeless Canada-US border the "No Touching Zone". Still one of my favorite videos to this day.